From prestigious national honors to major research milestones, our faculty continue to advance knowledge, innovation and impact across engineering and science. We're proud to recognize these outstanding achievements in research, funding and professional leadership, showcasing the breadth of expertise and the real-world influence of our scholars—from transformative medical technologies and bio-inspired robotics, to aerospace breakthroughs and fundamental advances in heat transfer.
Clare Rimnac
Clare Rimnac, Distinguished University Professor Emerita, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Technology in Arthroplasty (ISTA).
Rimnac’s research contributions have been focused on the areas of orthopaedic biomechanics and biomaterials, including implant retrieval analysis, materials characterization, polymer fracture mechanics and mechanical performance of bone tissues.
Ozan Akkus
Professor Ozan Akkus continues to serve as the intellectual leader in developing and commercializing technologies for “live” replacement joints. Aimed at creating life-changing treatments for osteoarthritis—the most common degenerative joint disease, affecting 500 million people worldwide—the OMEGA project (Orchestrating Multifaceted Engineering for Growing Artificial Joints) brought together collaborators from multiple institutions, including Colorado State University, The Ohio State University, Rice University, Washington State University, Sapphiros AI Bio, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Kathryn Daltorio
Associate Professor Kathryn Daltorio, a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Program Award (YIP), and major funding from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program, has received two new grants from ONR:
- $2.4 million over three years to develop a cross-domain bio-inspired robot capable of operating in air, water, and on benthic surfaces.
- $700,000 over three years to create expendable crab-like robots with enhanced thrust for faster, more autonomous searching and cleaning in rocky environments.
Bryan Schmidt
Assistant Professor Bryan Schmidt was elected Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a major recognition of his contributions to hypersonics.
A recipient of YIP awards from both ONR and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Schmidt secured additional grants in 2025:
- $1.5 million over three years from the Department of Defense to support cost-effective high-speed aerothermodynamics and encounter testing, in collaboration with colleagues at CWRU’s Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering department and Stevens Institute of Technology.
- $284,000 over three years in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder to study passive flow control for drag reduction and improved fuel efficiency.
Chirag Kharangate
Assistant Professor Chirag Kharangate was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.
In addition to research sponsored by his YIP award from ONR, Chirag also received another NSF grant in 2025. This three-year, $362,000, single-PI project aims to improve the understanding of flow boiling heat transfer by combining advanced diagnostics experimentation, machine learning vision analysis, and physics-informed machine learning modeling.